One of my favorite courses is Marketing Your Training Internally where I have the opportunity to facilitate our clients as they learn to create a marketing plan for their training department or curriculum. One of the many interesting aspects of the marketing process they discover is that the statement “to market” is very different than the statement “to sell.”
Traditionally, we use a sales approach to market a particular course, series of courses, or even our Training Departments to the organizations we serve. By this I mean we focus on communicating to our clients the features and characteristics of that course.
We then expect that all that information will secure the necessary buy-in from the organization’s managers and supervisors who will end up sending their employees to attend that course. And, more often than we’d like to admit, we end up with last-minute cancellations, participants who are suddenly asked to leave the course “just for five minutes” and never return, or we find out that learners are not encouraged to used their newly acquired skills as they return to their jobs. Why? Because in reality, we really do not have the necessary management buy-in.
This, to great extent, happens as a result of marketing efforts that don’t really provide our target clients with the information they truly require to:
- See the post-attendance value to their department.
- Schedule their team members to attend the right courses.
- Identify how each course is geared to help that department achieve their objectives under their current strategic plan.
So Let’s Market - marketing goes deeper than selling. It focuses on what will be necessary to build, maintain, and grow the relationship with our clients, rather than on getting the seats filled in the training classroom. If we are to market effectively, it’s crucial that we understand several elements that need to be “mixed” in our marketing efforts: Product, People, Promotion, Relationships, and Planning.
Product
First we must define the value of our PRODUCT so that our clients can see not only the features, but also the benefits and long-term performance improvements that will result from our courses and services. In other words, we need to show our clients how our product will satisfy their needs.
People
Next we need to dig a little deeper and identify the needs of the PEOPLE to whom we will be targeting. This way we can target our marketing strategy to that specific group of people. We would not necessarily apply the same marketing strategy to the managers and supervisors that we would apply to the people that will be attending our courses.
Promotion
When PROMOTING our courses and services, we need to get creative and stretch beyond our comfort zones so we can appeal to the proper tier of the organization, using the most effective promotional techniques. Managers and Supervisors are not going to necessarily respond to a training marketing brochure the same way their employees will.
Relationships
The aim of any marketing program is to solidify the RELATIONSHIPS that exist between the Training Department and the organization it serves. How do we want our clients to talk about our courses, staff and services, and what are we doing to assure repeat business from them? These are questions we should ponder carefully. The answers to these questions should be at the forefront of all marketing efforts.
Planning
Finally, putting all these in perspective requires careful and strategic PLANNING so that our marketing efforts yield the results we hoped for.
One of the misunderstandings we in training tend to have about marketing is to believe that if we are constantly promoting our courses and services we will secure attendance and support from the organization. Unfortunately for us, training is not a “Field of Dreams” – just because we build the training does not mean they (the learners, etc.) will come. Having a well-thought-out marketing plan that we can put into action, however, can make the difference.
What marketing efforts are you engaging in? What processes do you have in place to secure the success of your department’s products and services? I look forward to your ideas and success stories.
José
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